General Speaker Advice and Recommendations

Discussion in 'Speakers' started by shotgunshane, Mar 7, 2017.

  1. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    If two Aegirs then Freya+. It's significantly improved. Write up on the + later today.

    Reasons are mainly because Aegir in monoblock requires balanced inputs, and also because it adds something special.
     
  2. Luigi Pichardo

    Luigi Pichardo New

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    It's been over a month since logging onto this site, I only just noticed the new Freya product on their website.

    Has a lot changed in the world of Schitt Audio in only the past 2 months while I was away? If so I will be glad to hear your writeup.
     
  3. Luigi Pichardo

    Luigi Pichardo New

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    Here we go, now wer'e talking. A perfect pairing system I can match for the future. Pretty much all the components you mentioned that would work:

    https://www.stereophile.com/content/schiit-salk-signature-sound
     
  4. psuKinger

    psuKinger Facebook Friend

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    Hi guys, I'm looking to upgrade my subwoofer, to go with my (soon to order) new speakers - a pair of Ascend Acoustics Sierra Towers with the upgraded RAAL ribbon tweeter. My plan is to use Audyssey XT32 for Bass Management via my Denon x4400h.

    Unfortunately I don't have the (envious) situation of having an ideal 2-channel listening room separate from my home theater in my current home, so this will serve dual-purpose for Music and Movies/TV. My room is very large; the "room" is 16'x24', but it's an open-home concept and is not closed off to several other equally sized rooms (kitchen, dining room, sunroom, and up the steps to a loft, plus other rooms with doors that often aren't closed). Pressurizing the space seems... likely beyond my abilities/means, and probably not an option (at least for me)...

    This will be an "upgrade" to my current entry-level SVS PB-1000 ten inch ported sub. I'll move that one downstairs to my secondary system. In terms of usage, it'll be used a lot more for "casual" television/Netflix streaming than it will for either movies or music. But in terms of my goals and priorities, I'd prioritize music performance over everything else; anything big that'd rumble loud and go boom would be good enough for me for a movies-only system. But I'm hoping to try to be as quick, articulate, and accurate as I can for best-performance-i-can-afford music listening. As a result I think I'm leaning towards:
    1) Servo
    2) Sealed?

    Something like a Rythmik F18 (18" sealed servo), F25 (dual 15" sealed servo), or the FV15HP (15" Ported Servo) is what I'm leaning towards... Anyone in the SBAF community want to either steer me in another direction, "set me straight" on an error in my logic, or reaffirm that I'm pointed in at least a "general direction of goodness"?
     
  5. Armaegis

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  6. ergopower

    ergopower Friend

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    I have one of the smaller sealed Rythmiks, L22. Very happy with it. Music first for me, it's why I chose a sealed one, but it will go loud enough on movies to drive my GF out of the room. Not that that should be your goal. I did a pretty good job of isolating it with the pad it sits on, but on the occasion when I've run a low frequency sweep, I hear a bunch of stuff rattling and I have to straighten out a bunch of art & pictures later. Not that that should be your goal either. 2,000 cu ft room open to another room the same size.
     
  7. Poleepkwa

    Poleepkwa Friend

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    I have been redoing my speaker setup and noticed that I could use one 5 meter cable and the other cable will be 12 meters. Shortening them would actually be very convenient as I do not have to worry about the access cables.I doubt very much that there will be an audible effect of having different lengths of speaker cable. I am currently using 14AWG Cordial speaker cables. Is there any real reason NOT to shorten these?
     
  8. supertransformingdhruv

    supertransformingdhruv Almost "Made"

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    From a purely physics perspective, I can't imagine this makes a difference. I don't think this even gives an appreciable phase difference.

    Ran some numbers on my calculator watch, please forgive the roughness but this should suffice for order of magnitude:
    • VF of copper is about .95 -> speed of an EM wave in copper is about 2.85e8 m/s
    • Difference in signal path length = 12m - 5m = 7m, so the difference in electrical propagation time is around 2.45e-8 seconds
    • Speed of sound is ~343 m/s so the peak to peak delta is around 8.4e-6m
      • wavelength of 20 kHz sound is about 1.7e-3m, which means that the delay between your channels is spatially roughly 0.05% of the highest wavelength.
    Probably breathing makes you experience more asymmetry than 7m length difference in cables.
     
  9. philipmorgan

    philipmorgan Member of the month

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    Would the greater electrical resistance of the longer cable make a difference?
     
  10. Poleepkwa

    Poleepkwa Friend

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    Probably, if using too thin cables.
     
  11. JayC

    JayC Resident Crash Test Dummy

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    Need some advice on my setup: I've got a pair of Harbeth P3ESR fed by an integrated Creek Evolution amp, plus an SVS SB12NSD for low duty all connected to a Schiit Saga. Lately I've been feeling more and more that I'm missing some engagement because the Harbeths are a bit too easy to listen to (even though this is a good thing sometimes) and I'm wondering what needs to change - the speakers or the amp? The Saga means that I can go power amp without any trouble, and its been the plan for a while to get a Linn LK140 or something similar but maybe I should get rid of the speakers (and maybe the sub too, depending on the replacement speakers since I'm usually only listening to music) and get towers since I'm going to be moving into a bigger apartment in about a month. Something like the ProAc Response D18?

    So basically, I'm not sure what component to change and then the choice of replacement is then the next topic.
    I dont want to spend too much more than what I've put in so far, and used prices of the stuff i mentioned above are not too far from each other (Creek Evo vs Linn LK140, Harbeth P3ESR vs ProAc D18)
     
  12. murphythecat

    murphythecat GRU-powered uniformed trumpkin

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    your electronics is good enough, id look at upgrading the speakers.
    its hard to beat the p3esr in all fronts (mid-treble-bass) without spending a lot of money. When I had the P3esr, I compared them to so many standmounts from dynaudio, focal, atc ect and its only with devore o93 or Harbeth shl5plus that I felt it was really a upgrade from P3esr.
    so, what is your budget and are you limited by speaker size?

    Id recommend you testing the SCM20 or SCM19 since you own subs those would work.
    look also for ref 3a decapo (not their be model their previous with soft dome)
     
  13. JayC

    JayC Resident Crash Test Dummy

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    Well, the SHL5+ for example is going to be too big for my apartment.. I think the ATC scm19 also might be a bit large especially if I'm going to keep the SVS sub. I was thinking a floorstander or bookshelf+sub for now, I'm willing to compromise a bit on absolute extension for convenience and space saving

    But really, the only thing I feel like I'm missing from the P3ESR is a bit more life and sparkle. More involvement when the volume is cranked up..
     
  14. murphythecat

    murphythecat GRU-powered uniformed trumpkin

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    indeed, every 5 inch based speaker ive heard or had, compared to say a 8 inch based 2 way speaker lacks openess- life size image- and the dynamics will be audibly compressed. screw them. go with real speakers.

    have a hard look at reference 3a decapo, AN-J, Seas A26. All those ive had, are quite small and sound great and would be a upgrade from the P3.
     
  15. Soups

    Soups Sadomasochistic cat

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    Total noob question, but I'm looking to experiment with a few bi-wiring/bi-amping scenarios using my Schiit Vidar and eventually Aegir monoblocks...

    ...and I was wondering if it would be OK to use 2 separate sets of cables with different types of connectors SIMULTANEOUSLY on a single amp's binding posts?

    One set of cables would be using Banana Plugs, and then the other Spades (12 awg monoprice cable). I'm unsure partly because many of the "bi-wiring" cables I've seen for sale only have just two terminals using one type of connector (either plugs, spades, etc.) for the amp end. I'd hate to accidentally blow something up or get sub-par performance setting things up incorrectly. Thanks for any input on how to go about it.
     
  16. Armaegis

    Armaegis Friend

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    @Soups
    Going from a single amp end to two speaker terminal is ok.
    Going from two amps to a single speaker terminal is going to let the magic smoke out.

    Bi-amping has benefits. Bi-wiring doesn't do much unless your existing cables are kinda skimpy and you just want to beef it all up (but in that case, you might be better off with thicker overall cabling plus jumpers rather than having more wires running all over the place).
     
  17. ChaChaRealSmooth

    ChaChaRealSmooth SBAF's Mr. Bean

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    To those that have experience with bookshelf speakers; what are some ones that you think I should audition? I'm currently trying to plan out a modest two-channel rig (budget is about $1500 for speakers alone, but can stretch if it's worth it) and unfortunately just don't have the space to put some floorstanding speakers unless I throw out some furniture, which isn't a feasible option.

    Amp is going to be either a Schiit Aegir or Vidar, but probably will be Aegir given that I don't think the Vidar's strength of bass grip is going to translate well into bookshelf speakers.

    Source is both the TV and an Audio Technica ATLP120 that I bought for my mom so she can blast the Bee Gees (they're hooked up to Audioengine A5+ speakers, which I actually quite like).

    *I know my inquiry is a pretty noob one; I know almost nothing about speakers. The only really good ones I've heard were at Marv's place, and I don't have space for those giant JBLs.
     
  18. Armaegis

    Armaegis Friend

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    What's your size definition for "bookshelf"?
     
  19. Taverius

    Taverius Smells like sausages

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    I like my ATCs but they won't do well with Aegir, too inefficient.

    It really depends on where they will be, as many bookshelf speakers are actually just small floorstanders with a hidden cost, seeing as they're designed to be installed 2-3 feet from walls on stands and tend to sound poop otherwise.
     
  20. rlow

    rlow A happy woofer

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    The majority of bookshelf speakers are inefficient due to small driver and box size, so generally, more power is better. You typically want lots of bass grip to control the small drivers and to get the most bass possible out of them. Aegir wasn’t designed for small low efficiency speakers used in a room (I.e. not nearfield) - it is intended for high efficiency designs that don’t require a ton of power or grip to make them sound dynamic. Small inefficient bookshelf speakers on a low powered amp if you’re sitting a decent distance away will sound boring and lack definition and dynamics, not to mention run out of steam or start clipping at decent room level volumes. Again these are generalities, not all bookshelfs are like this, but the majority are.

    As example, the Kef LS50 that many people love (but I do not due to metallicy sound signature) requires at least 80w in my opinion, but preferably a lot more. 1 Vidar will drive them well. But monoblocks, even better. Now the LS50s are known power hogs, but other similar designs are not much better in my experience. That said, some people love the LS50s with the Ragnarok, which is 60w/ch into 8 ohms, 100w into 4 ohms (which is what the LS50s are). I wouldn’t try to put the LS50s on a single Aegir in a room.

    There’s a lot of choices out there to be honest, and hard to know where to start due to preferences. I love my ATCs like Taverius mentioned, but they’re not for everyone. Don’t even think about those with a single Aegir. Vidar they run great.
     
    Last edited: Jul 18, 2019

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